Postmark to celebrate 100 years of Scouting
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Barre Post Office Officer-In-Charge Jess Herring (left) and employee Andrew Myers show off the new Boy Scout postmark. The postmark is unique to Barre and celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the first Boy Scout troop in America. Kyle Martel/Times Argus |
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By Thatcher Moats
TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: July 22, 2010
BARRE — A commemorative postmark will be available in Barre — and Barre only — starting next week to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America, an organization believed to have started in the Granite City with Troop 1.
On Tuesday, stamp enthusiasts can bring a stamped envelope to the Barre Post Office and have the commemorative postmark printed on it at no cost.
People can also send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the post office containing the letter or envelope they wish to have imprinted with the postmark.
The postmark is not a postage stamp; the postmark “cancels” a stamp on an envelope.
But on the same day the commemorative postmark comes out in Barre, a 44-cent postage stamp will be released around the nation that commemorates the Boy Scouts’ 100th anniversary, according to Bob Edson, president of the Washington County Stamp Club.
Edson applied for the commemorative postmark through the stamp club to celebrate the anniversary of the Boy Scouts. Timing it with the release of the Boy Scout postage stamp just made sense, he said.
“I just thought it would be in order,” Edson said.
Edson said John Lutz, a Randolph resident with a background in the printing business and a part-time stamp dealer, designed the postmark that will be available at the Barre Post Office.
There are about 30 to 50 commemorative postmarks that come out in Vermont each year, according to Edson.
Jess Herring is the officer in charge at the Barre Post Office while postmaster Mathew Rodeck serves in Afghanistan.
Edson credited Herring with being a big help in ushering through the application for the postmark.
The postmarks like the one being released Tuesday are beloved by philatelists, or stamp collectors, Herring said.
“This is big for them,” he said.
Edson said he’s been collecting stamps for 58 years.
“A lot of people collect stuff and stamps are the stuff I happen to collect,” he said.
To get the postmark via the mail, people can send their stamped envelope to: Postmaster, 3 South Main St., Barre, VT 05641-9998.
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